When
we think about the rapid change in the global economy and its effect on
geography, Istanbul, located on the very route of the former Silk
Road, has become increasingly important in terms of international art and
cultural exchange. Perhaps this situation is the result of European and far
Eastern countries’ natural interest in the city. Over 90 galleries from 21
countries have traveled to the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC)
for the international art scene that is Contemporary Istanbul (CI). On Nov. 6th, the VIP preview at CI was bustling with an eclectic crowd of intellectuals and
bohemians. Emails, business cards and wine glasses speedily changed hands, in a
warm, welcoming atmosphere. The fair goes on
until Nov.10 covering nearly one thousand square meters of space, which is
surrounded by local arts initiatives, children’s workshops, live on-site
discussions and broadcasts.

Looking
at the booths closely, I noticed that this year’s fair has a focus on recent
activist and international headlines. The rumored Turkish art boom is present
at the fair, from the current coup-d’etat generation artists, whose success is
thanks to pioneering Turkish avant-garde artists like Nil Yalter, Gulsun Karamustafa,
Huseyin Alptekin, Yuksel Arslan, Nur Kocak or Sarkis and many others. At Rampa Gallery’s
booth, young Erinc Seymen’s series of prints
are great examples of re-inventing an old technique with a new, surrealist
perspective. In the same booth, surprising new works by German-Turkish artist Nevin Aladag and cult figure, Gulsun Karamustafa
with her glass-ceramic work, Toddler.
At the entrance of new media art section of CI, there is an intriguing “noise
sculpture,” titled Data Noise by Candas Sisman, which is
sustained by scientific research and aestheticization of daily noise.

At the CI fair one regularly encounters a mix of Turkish culture
and the international art world. At Shanghai-based A&B
Gallery, Han Hu uses neon lights and glass that was taken from historic
Istanbul peninsula Eminonu, to portray a unique landscape with blinking lights.
German artist Marion Eichmann comments on historic Istanbul and the Grand
Bazaar with hundreds of tiny coloured papers, at the Tammen
& Partner booth. As
mentioned above, themes of internationalism and politics are as very strong, as
usual at CI. This is seen in Kerim Ragimov’s piece, Human Project, Portrait No.46 at the Russian gallery Marina
Gisich. The same critical gaze appears in Michael Endlicher’s “I don’t
believe you anymore” series. In these pieces that started around five years
ago, shown at Peitner-Lichtenfens gallery in Vienna, the artist uses
contemporary iconic images including Che Guevara, Buddha, Vladimir Putin,
Julian Assange or Turkish Prime Minister Recep T.Erdogan and Turkish Republic's
founding father M.K. Ataturk and even the artist’s own gallerist.

The recent uprisings and revolts around Gezi Park at Istanbul’s
Taksim Square are manifested in unique, independent and rich plastic language
and at this edition of CI. In her Gezi
Parki piece, Ardan Ozmenoglu from Siyah
Beyaz Art Gallery of Ankara
refers to the government security forces’ pepper spray as an aphrodisiac and
names this moment Orgasm.
The same artist also uses the local Turkish Saz instrument and refers the
ignorance of the authorities with a local sentence; “Anlayana sivrisinek saz,
anlamayana davul zurna az” (“A word to the wise is enough”). The spirit of
fresh, activist criticism and the quality of aesthetics also can be found in
pieces of two artists at the gallery, x-ist. Bahadır Baruter creates a moment of Sleeplessness and portrays all of the presidents of
Turkish Republic in a humorous pose. On another note, Cem Dinlenmis created a ‘fortune
wheel’-like wall piece that criticizes the public space, incorporating Istanbul
Biennial and Gezi Park issues in one piece. A final example is The
Empire Project’s Burhan Kum who creates an adorable allegory of
future Turkey, on canvas with a marker. In this piece we can easily see the
eclectic, unidentifiable cityscape of Istanbul and the Bosphorus, with Ottoman
Yeniceri soldiers and a giant, Moby Dick-like whale which perhaps is meant to
resemble the Republic idealism of Turkey.